


Recreation, Entertainment, Art, or Sport

by trademarkgiggle



Series: Bower [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trademarkgiggle/pseuds/trademarkgiggle
Summary: of course jonathan toews can juggle
Relationships: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews
Series: Bower [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668547
Comments: 26
Kudos: 226





	Recreation, Entertainment, Art, or Sport

**Author's Note:**

> with thanks to [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling)

Jonny knows that they've been waiting less than thirty minutes, but it feels like three hours. He's more bored than the kids; Jack's drawing on his pad, and Sadie's trying to pull the polkadots off her romper. They went to the pediatrician this morning before Patrick's interview, which means the afternoon is going to include the park, the zoo, ice cream, and everyone falling asleep before seven. Jonny's ready to get it started. Jack, meanwhile, has spent the past five minutes attacking his paper with a yellow crayon.

Jonny wraps an arm around Sadie to keep her steady in her carrier while he lowers himself to the ground across from Jack. They're borrowing the office of one of the podcast hosts, who clearly didn't expect Patrick Kane to show up with Jonathan Toews in tow, too. Patrick had had to explain that no, they couldn't do the interview jointly, not unless there was a spare babysitter standing around, so Jonny, armed with a diaper bag stuffed with picture books and crayons, had set up shop in the corner of a room that had both a basketball hoop and a beanbag toss, neither of which distracted from the faint smell of weed.

They'd killed the first ten minutes of the wait recovering from vaccination day. Jack, rather than screaming, had adopted martyrdom in the form of a wobbly chin and liquid blue eyes. Sadie wailed her head off and then recovered almost immediately. Now they're absorbed in coloring and polkadots respectively, and Patrick's off concentrating on pre-season prospects or whatever they're asking him about. Maybe Jonny should've brought a book.

"What are you drawing, buddy?" he says.

"A bee," Jack answers.

"A bee? Can I see?" Jack moves his crayon aside without bothering to tilt his paper, so Jonny has to lean forward to look at the upside-down yellow ball. It has wings and a line that might be a stinger and what you could definitely call black stripes, even if they're on the other side of the paper. It's a pretty great bee. "Nice job," Jonny says. "I like the wings."

"Thanks," Jack says.

"Why are you drawing a bee?"

"We need, um," Jack says. "We need a pet."

"And we're going to get a bee for a pet?" The campaign to get another pet had only started recently. Jack must've sensed that Jonny would be an easier nut to crack than Patrick, because so far Jonny has been the sole target of a succession of hand-drawn koalas and cats and bats and cows. 

"Yeah," Jack says. "It can make us honey."

"We can buy honey at the store," Jonny points out. On his chest, Sadie squeals. No luck with the dots so far. Maybe she'll move on to the flowers printed on her carrier next.

"No," Jack says.

"No?"

"Our bee makes better honey. Because, see?" Jack says, and then he finally offers Jonny his drawing pad so Jonny can look. Jonny studies it carefully and then catches Sadie's hand before she can grab at it and wrinkle the paper.

"That's a really good bee," he tells Jack. "I bet it does make better honey."

"It can sleep in my bed," Jack says.

"What if it stings you?" Jonny says. "Or Sadie?"

"No. It won't," Jack says. "Our bee's good, because I taught it so it won't sting Sadie or me or you or Daddy or anyone."

"You'd make a good bee trainer," Jonny says. "You taught Sadie how to knock her blocks over."

"Yeah!" Jack says. "And I taught her to trade bees."

_"Train_ bees."

"Train bees," Jack parrots. "Can I have my paper back, please?"

"Sure," Jonny says, and hands it over. Sadie twists around to stare up at Jonny when he sits back; he's never been able to figure out how much she can see from that angle, but she's probably getting a lot of his chin and not much else. "Want to play a game?"

"What game?" Jack asks.

"Tic-tac-toe?"

"No thank you."

"I guess we won't be ready for hangman for another few years, huh," Jonny says. "Do you want to keep drawing bees?"

"Maybe," Jack says, but he hasn't picked up his crayon again yet. His hair's standing out around his head in a fuzzy yellow halo. Jonny had been a little overprotective of his curls when he was a baby, but he's old enough to decide how he wants it cut for himself. A couple of months ago he'd asked to have it it buzzed, and now it looks like a duckling's fluff as it grows back in. 

"We could get another baby," Jack suggests.

"A… what?"

"A baby," Jack says. "Instead of a bee."

Jonny's generally in favor of that overall concept, but he isn't sure how Jack reached his conclusion. "You know that babies aren't pets, right?" he asks, just to make sure.

_"Yeah,_ Papa," Jack says, with an I'm-not-stupid expression straight out of Patrick's playbook. He scootches over to Jonny and catches Sadie's hand the next time she flails. "Sadie could be a big sister."

"Oh yeah?" Jonny says. "Would she like that?"

"Yeah," Jack says. "And I would have two sisters."

"You might get a brother."

"No," Jack says. "Another sister."

"I don't think it works that way, sweetheart." 

"Another omega?"

"No, buddy, you can't pick that, either." Although privately Jonny would be thrilled with a third omega baby, even if Patrick doesn't understand why he'd been so excited when they found out about the first two. The most important person in the world is an omega, though (and so are the second and third), and in Jonny's opinion that makes for a great foundational blueprint.

"Okay," Jack says, "but another baby?"

Fortunately, the most important person in the world is also pretty competitive, so Jonny has a deep understanding of the nature of the most important children in the world. "Does this have anything to do with Zia having a new baby brother?" he asks.

"Yes," Jack says. "She's got three now."

"You know we can't have more babies just so you can win, right?" Jonny says, and then he winces. He can hear his mother telling him exactly that kind of thing in exactly that tone. He's going to have to send her flowers and a card to apologize, thank her, or both.

"Oh," Jack says.

"And having more siblings doesn't mean you're winning." He reaches out and brushes Jack's hair back, and Jack leans into the touch. "You aren't competing against Zia, okay? You guys are both trying to be the best older siblings you can be."

"Oh," Jack says again. "Okay." He watches as Sadie grasps his finger and then lets her pretend to drag his hand around; she must smile, although Jonny can't see, because Jack grins back. 

And then he announces, "Sadie's good as three babies."

Jonny dekes. "Hey, Jack, have you ever played beanbag toss before?" 

"What's that?"

"It's a game," Jonny says. He reaches out and snags the bucket of beanbags sitting on the floor. "See these? You try to toss them through the hole in that board."

"Why?" Jack asks.

"To score points," Jonny says, and then immediately realizes he miscalculated when Jack's eyes light up. "Or I could show you how to juggle."

"Juggle?" Jack says. "Like a clown?" His little face scrunches in concentration. "You can do that?"

"Watch," Jonny says, and he digs out three of the beanbags. They're shaped a little weird, but they'll do. Sadie reaches out and tries to grab one, so in the interest of not dropping a beanbag on his daughter's head, Jonny unbuckles her. "Here, sweetheart," he says, "you'll have to hold Sadie." Jack's already reaching for her, and when Jonny sets her on the floor in front of him, Jack wraps her in his arms. 

Sadie looks a little confused by the whole process. "Ba?" she says.

"Ba," Jonny agrees. He sits back on his heels. "Ready?" he asks, and then he starts tossing the beanbags. The pattern with three balls tossed in a figure-eight is the only one he still knows, although as a kid he'd managed to work his way up to four. It takes him a second to remember the trick, and then he can actually glance away long enough to look at his audience. Jack looks impressed. Sadie looks like the universe split open to reveal its secrets. Parenting isn't a competition, but if it were, Jonny would definitely be winning. 

He finishes by catching all three beanbags in a row and giving a little bow, and Jack starts clapping. "Again!" he says, and then he must remember his manners, because he adds, "Please!"

"You don't want me to show you how?" Jonny says, but Jack shakes his head. Sadie's eyes are locked on the beanbags in Jonny's hand, although she glances up at Jonny's face every so often. It might be good for her to practice tracking objects; she's probably a little old for it, but Jonny makes a mental note to look it up later anyway.

"Ready?" he asks again, and Jack says, "Yeah!" and Sadie says, "Ba!" so he starts juggling. The beanbags almost get away from him, but he manages to catch up to them before they can smack either of his children in the face, and Jack reacts with a cheer like Jonny's near-slip was intentional.

"Papa," Jack says.

"Jack," Jonny says back.

"How long can you do that for?"

"Three hundred years," Jonny says, still watching the peak of the arc of each beanbag. Jack dissolves into giggles, and that's when Jonny picks up on the little flare of presence and scent that means _Patrick._

A second later the door clicks open, and Jack says, "Daddy, look!"

"I see, baby," Patrick says. He sounds amused. "Did you know Papa could juggle?"

"No," Jack says. A second later Patrick drifts into Jonny's field of vision. He settles down on the ground next to Jack and pulls Sadie onto his lap. Jonny keeps going, because he might not be able to manage three hundred years, but he can definitely do better than thirty seconds.

"Maybe he should join the circus," Patrick suggests.

"Could I get an elephant?"

"Are you joining the circus, too?"

"Yeah," Jack says. "I could trade the elephants."

_"Train,_ baby," Patrick says. "And sure, why not. If we all join the circus, you can have as many elephants as you want."

Jonny catches his tongue between his teeth, glances at the bucket, and then for a grand finale, throws all three beanbags up as high as he can manage while still tracking them, grabs the bucket, and then catches them in the bucket one-two-three.

Jack cheers, Sadie babbles, and Patrick claps. Yeah, Jonny's definitely winning. He takes a bow, and then another one, and then Patrick says, "I didn't know you could juggle, either," and it's possible that Jonny preens. Patrick rolls his eyes at that; if the kids weren't in the room, he'd probably pick up a beanbag and lob it right at Jonny.

"Can I see?" Jack asks, and Jonny plops the beanbag bucket down in front of him. He digs around happily while Jonny collects papers and crayons and everything else that managed to crawl out of the diaper bag. Patrick, meanwhile, watches Sadie watch Jonny.

"I think you blew her mind," he says.

"I am impressive," Jonny says. "All the elephants that he wants, though? Really? After the effort I put into convincing him we didn't need a bee?" 

"Zia doesn't have an elephant," Jack says. His head's almost entirely inside the bucket.

"I guess that's the important thing," Patrick says. He lifts Sadie up, kisses her forehead, and with Jonny's help settles her back into her carrier. When she's all buckled, he sneaks in and steals a kiss from Jonny, too. He stays there for a moment, lips not quite touching Jonny's; he's close enough that Jonny could count his eyelashes, close enough that when Jonny inhales to breathe Patrick in he can feel Patrick doing the same.

They exhale together, and Jonny nudges his nose against Patrick's. "Hi," he says. 

"Hi," Patrick says back, and he smiles.


End file.
